Re: Larry's survey

[dlyons@Apple.COM (David A Lyons)]

larry@lablues.UUCP (Lawrance A. Schneider) writes:

[...]
>How many will/have migrate(d) to a computer made by someone other than
>Apple Computer Inc..?
>     C1 >5 ---------- 9
>     C1 >7 ---------- 7
>Not too many, but more than would go to a Mac.
[...]

I would be careful about drawing conclusions from this survey, based on
two things:  the small sample size (36?), and the self-selection of the
participants.

That is, 36 people out of some unknown number (probably in the thousands?)
chose to respond.  Perhaps the ones who bothered responding are the ones
with the most extreme opinions, not representative of the whole newsgroup
readership (which, in turn, may not be representative of the whole group
of Apple II owners).


>Maybe there is a correlation between Apple Computer Inc. support for
>the Apple II and how much people like Apple Computer Inc.!!  More
>amusing to me however was that I had two questionnaires filled out by
>Apple Computer Inc. employees; both rated the question a 9!!!!

I did not participate in the survey.

That was because it would take time, and the questions seemed to have
a distasteful (to me) slant.  Now that I see the results are only
quasi-anonymous, I'm glad I abstained.



>[...] There are periodic articles in the micro computer
>press about the problems Macintosh users have with poor support from
>Apple Computer Inc..  I know that I tell anyone willing to listen that
>Apple Computer Inc. is not a good company from whom to buy a computer.

Apparently I don't keep up very well with the publications that you
do.  Seems like I keep seeing Apple listed at or near the top of
customer satisfaction surveys, though.


>With Apple Computer Inc. having lost the legal suit with MicroSoft,
>there are alternatives to their Macs with the Graphical interface.

That seems like a vast oversimplification.  Last time I read about it
in the paper, many charges had been dismissed, but others were still
in court.  Have I missed something?

ANYWAY, I don't know of any lawsuit where Apple attempted to claim
exclusive rights to graphical interfaces in general.  The real issues
are specific and complicated.


>While I wish the employees within Apple well, I have nothing but
>contempt for Apple Computer Inc. [...]

Thanks, that's the nicest thing anybody's said to me in the last
30 seconds.  :-)

-- 
David A. Lyons, Apple Computer, Inc.      |   DAL Systems
Apple II System Software Engineer         |   P.O. Box 875
Internet:dlyons@apple.com                 |   Cupertino, CA 95015-0875

My opinions are my own, not Apple's.